Photography

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the abandoned shopping mall (with fish)

The condemned & abandoned New World Mall in Bangkok's Bang Lam Phu district was built sometime in the early 1980's, but only remained open for 15 years before shutting it's doors for good. The reasons for this are multiple, with a history of misfortune, including fire, collapse, and the unauthorized construction of upper floors. The upper floors also made the mall higher than the nearby Grand Palace, which angered locals as it is an understood ‘no-no’ for buildings in the area to be constructed taller than this highly-venerated and historical location.

Due to both shoddy architectural engineering and irresponsible demolition work, there was a collapse in the mall in 2005 that resulted in deaths of nearby vendors. Unfinished demolition of the upper floors also left the building exposed to the elements, resulting 500 meters of completely flooded pond space on the ground floor. This led to an outbreak of mosquitos which became a nuisance in the area. Local residents and vendors then began putting fish into the pond in order to combat the mosquito problem, and the fish multiplied over the years. At one point there were over 3000 koi, mango fish, striped catfish, and other varieties of fish in the unusual habitat. In 2015, the story of the 'abandoned fish mall' went viral and resulted in great public attention Due to safety concerns, the fish were removed with nets with plans to later drain the pond.

I had recently been told that the mall is a great photo site for my area of interest in urban exploration and ‘abandonia’ photography. I woke up on a Sunday morning driven to explore and feeling that I absolutely had to get into that mall and see what was there.

I parked my car near the mall and spoke with a guard at a nearby facility, asking him about how I could get in. He said that people sometimes climb the wall but he suggested I not try as it’s quite dangerous and he’s seen people get hurt trying. He was a nice guy and seemed genuinely concerned about my safety. I had heard that guards near the mall have recently told others to get lost, but I got a warm reception from this gentleman by speaking polite Thai and explaining that photography is just my hobby.

I walked around the perimeter of the large complex and saw only one entrance which was gated and locked. I walked back over to the area where I spoke with the guard and noticed a large hole above a wall. Though the site is still very condemned (for good reason) and quite difficult to enter, I managed to find a way to climb up the wall and into the hole. I used a wall entwined with roots of a large tree to climb up and through an opening. There was a rusty metal gate stacked on some gathered debris which someone had put together as a very unstable ladder of sorts. It looked as if someone had jumped in and then gathered material from around the mall and stacked it up for climbing back out. There was a 3-meter drop-off with deep, flooded holes on either side and plenty of debris that would provide an easy injury or worse. I sat on the wall for a while, just looking down and thinking of how to get down, briefly considering jumping (which I am glad that I ultimately decided against). So, with all my equipment strapped on to my back, I slowly climbed down the very shaky gate-ladder and stacked wood. Getting in was no easy task, but once inside the immediate sight of the vast mall was almost overwhelming. I found it a bit easier to climb out, though there were still some unstable moments.

Once again, I found myself totally alone in the middle of a huge metropolitan area, which is one of the most exciting aspects, in my opinion, of urban exploration. The mall made for some strong photos and I'm glad that I made the effort and took a bit of risk to get inside.

The pond may or may not have been drained at some point, but the rainy seasons seem to have kept the water in place and fish stocks are beginning to return. I saw an array of carp and two large and colorful koi which stood out amongst the darkness of the bottom floor. It seems that the site is still visited by some curious urban explorers and street artists. There is an array of vibrant, mainly fish & mosquito-theme graffiti murals on the walls of the upper floors which give some character such a dank and dark atmosphere.